Coronavirus: Tableeghi Jamaat Preacher Who Died In Srinagar Was Uncooperative, Had Extensive Travel History

A 65-year-old ‘Tableeghi Jamaat’ preacher who died in Srinagar today (26 March) after being tested positive for coronavirus, had extensive travel history in the country and did not cooperate with the authorities, reports Hindustan Times.

The preacher was being treated at a Chest Diseases Hospital in the city and was suffering from other ailments like obesity and hypertension. He tested positive for Covid-19 two days ago,

"The patient had accompanying ailments of hypertension, diabetes and obesity. He succumbed in the early hours today," a senior doctor said.

The patient was part of a 'Tableeghi Jamaat' (Religious preachers) which reportedly aims to convert non-believers.

Before being admitted in the hospital, he had come into contact with some local doctors, nurses and paramedics in addition to attending a couple of religious congregations in Sopore town of Kashmiri's Baramulla district.

The patient also had extensive travel history before he confirmed positive for Coronavirus in Srinagar. He had been to Delhi, Deoband seminary, Jammu and then to a Sopore mosque in North Kashmir.

And finally, this 65-year-old man started showing symptoms of COVID-19 and had to be admitted to a hospital.

As per reports, four of his close aides were also found positive on Wednesday (26 March) after they met him at a mosque in Samba district where hundreds of followers of Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband in Uttar Pradesh had assembled between March 12 to 16 for a religious congregation.

Incidentally, it is not yet clear as to how he contacted the coronavirus infection. Government health authorities have been quoted as saying that he was not cooperative during their investigation.

“He wasn’t very forthcoming…not cooperative,” said a government health department official.

It is being speculated that he either went abroad or came in contact with individuals who had gone abroad.

With this death of the preacher, the total number of COVID-19 positive cases is now 10 in the union territory out of whom seven are being treated in Srinagar and three in Jammu city.

(With IANS Inputs)